Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Sharp recently showed off a brand new 70 inch LCD touch screen in Tokyo. With the new touch screen technology, Sharp says that it is the closest thing to working with a piece of paper and a pen, even with how big the screen is. This prototype could be used for a ton of applications, but they decided to use calligraphy to show off what it could do. They used a calligraphy brush with capacitive fibers to write on the screen, and it actually responded as if they were using a real brush and real ink. They also used smaller brushes on another screen to "paint" fine details of a dragon and it looked just like a watercolor painting.

This kind of technology has already come out, of course. But the big reason that this is so impressive is because it works with bigger formats and it is way more sensitive. So sensitive, in fact, that the smallest of details were able to be picked up accurately. Generally you can't do that with bigger screens because the noise from the display takes away from the sensitivity of the touch panel. They were able to get around this issue by using a parallel drive sensing method. This drives the processes of multiple touch sensors at the same time. The signal processing software for the screen allowed Sharp to have a signal-to-noise ratio eight times higher than other screens on the market right now.

These are still in the developmental stage but when these type of screens start hitting the market, it could be huge for businesses and classrooms alike. Having a digital whiteboard could benefit just about any business or school. It would also be really great to have at large events or business meetings.

The company showed off a number of new screens at the event, and some of the other ones were said to be hitting the market some time in 2016. There wasn't much word on when we could get our hands on the 70 incher, but hopefully it will be around the same time. Graphic designers, business owners, and teachers could all benefit greatly from such an awesome new product.